County receives $200,000 brownfield grant for site near Leichner Landfill

Vancouver, WA – A Washington State Department of Ecology grant will enable Clark County to study the level of contamination on a 9.5-acre parcel.

Environmental Services Director Don Benton on Wednesday signed the grant agreement for the Fleischer property in the 9100 block of Northeast 94th Avenue.

The vacant parcel previously was used for agriculture and fertilizer processing. The site is polluted with polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCB, but the extent of contamination and potential cleanup costs are unknown.

The Fleischer property is near the southwest portion of the closed Leichner Landfill. Clark County is in the early stages of developing a master plan to guide future redevelopment of the landfill and adjacent parcels. The master planning effort currently does not include the Fleisher property, but does encompass the Leichner Campus. The 35-acre parcel to the south of the Fleisher property is flat, has no buried garbage and is zoned for light-industrial development.

“It makes sense for the county to study the Fleischer property as we work with the community to chart a future course for other properties in the area,” said Don Benton, Environmental Services director. “This grant provides the resources for the county to do that, but it does not obligate the county to purchase the property or pay for its cleanup.”

The owners of the Fleischer property are not in a position to pay for contamination studies and cleanup.

The $200,000 state grant does not require a county match. The grant agreement expires at the end of May 2015.